Art off artboard showing on startup screen, but not in file

[ki17996714]

Hello!

I'm having an issue in Illustrator CC, v. 21.1.0, on a Mac Pro running OS Sierra (10.12.6). I've exhausted every route I know to try, so I'm hoping the community could help me.

Yesterday, I worked on some art for a box, doing my vector illustration off the artboard. I saved as a pdf, set up like so:

I then quit Illustrator, came back this morning, and when I opened the file, the art I had off the artboard was completely gone. No hidden objects, nothing hidden in clipping masks, etc.

The peculiar thing is: the art shows off the artboard on my startup screen in its preview (the stuff on the top right)....

...but isn't there at all when I open the file

When I resave the file under a different name, the preview shows that the art is no longer there:

Other things I've tried:

• Releasing any and all clipping masks

• Changing to overprint preview, outlines, and other views

• Checked my layers panel for the art objects I'm looking for - couldn't see anything besides what was on the artboard

• Resaved the file as an .eps, no luck

• Resaved the file as an .ai, no luck

• Opened the pdf in photoshop, no luck

• Quit Illustrator and cleared cache, the preview still shows the missing art, but it's not in the file after opening

• Restarted my entire system, no luck

I'm confused by this, and really hoping I can still get to the missing art somehow. Can anyone offer any insights as to what's happening?

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Looks like Illustrator opened only the PDF part of the file, which won't contain stuff outside of artboards.

This might happen when files go corrupt.

Where did you save the file?

[ki17996714]

I see. File corruption would make the most sense to me. I saved it on my computer within a client file, which also syncs with a google drive account.

[Monika Gause]

Synched folders might cause issues like this one. Didn't happen for the first time.

[ki17996714]

Got it. Yeah, first time this has happened for me, but good to know. Thanks for your help!